“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

ByT.S. Eliot

(1888-1965)

McNew/English IV AP "Prufrock"

Modernism• Characterized chiefly by a rejection of

19th century traditions– Example—often rejected traditional meter in

favor of free verse• Emphasized humanism over nationalism• Argued for cultural relativism• Emphasized the ways in which humans

were part of and responsible to nature


Modernism• Argued for multiple ways of looking at the world• Presented antiheroes, uncategorizable persons,

and anti-art movements like Dada• Challenged the idea that God played an active

role in the world• Argued no thing or person was born for a

specific use; instead, people found or made their own meaning in the world

• Rebelled against industrialized nations because of their greed and warmongering


Authors

•Novelists–Introduced stream of consciousness»Joseph Conrad»William Faulkner»James Joyce»Virginia Woolf


Authors•Poets

–Fragmentary Imagery–Complex allusions

»Ezra Pound»T.S. Eliot


Epigraph• A passage from Dante Alighieri's Inferno

(Canto 27, lines 61-66) spoken by Guido da Montefeltro in response to the questions of Dante, who Guido supposes is dead, since he is in Hell. The flame in which Guido is encased vibrates as he speaks: "If I thought that that I was replying to someone who would ever return to the world, this flame would cease to flicker. But since no one ever returns from these depths alive, if what I've heard is true, I will answer you without fear of infamy."


Epigraph– Connection to poem?

•Prufrock, like Guido da Montefeltro, does not expect his thoughts to be heard

•Interior Monologue


Rhetorical Structure

• Question—Answer• Contemplation—Inaction• Invitation--Destination


Invitation--Destination


Who is Prufrock?(Characterization)

•Indecisive•Contemplative•Reflective•Intelligent and well-read

–Allusions to the Bible (John the Baptist), Shakespeare (Hamlet), Marvell (“To His Coy Mistress”)

•Humorous–Mocks himself frequently



•Thin•Balding•Insecure•Lonely•Fearful•Foolish•Older?

–Mid-life crisis?McNew/English IV AP

"Prufrock"


•Self-aware–Remember, all of the information given about Prufrock comes from Prufrock himself


Structure of Poem– Meter

•Not free-verse•Meter varies

– Rhyme•Internal and end rhyme


Setting and Imagery• The simile comparing the evening to a

“patient etherized upon a table”• “half-deserted streets”• “The muttering retreats/ Of restless nights in

one-night cheap hotels”• “And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:”• “Streets that follow like a tedious argument/

Of insidious intent” • “yellow fog” and “yellow smoke” in later

stanzas• “dusk”


Tone

•Dismal and depressing setting•Commentary on society?


The Actions of the Cat–The cat rubs its back against the

window pane–The cat rubs its muzzle on the

window pane–The cat licks the corners of the

window pane–The cat allows the soot from the

chimneys to litter its back–The cat recognizes it is an October

night, curls up and falls asleepMcNew/English IV AP

"Prufrock"

The Purpose of the Cat


The Purpose of the CatContemplates interacting with people, but never does.

“And indeed there will be time/ To wonder, ‘Do I dare?’ and, ‘Do I dare?’/ Time to turn back and descend the stair”


“There will be time”Repetition

•Suggests predictability of existence

– Gives a reason (or an excuse?) for why he does not have to act now.


Allusion


Insecurities:Physical Appearance

•Prufrock is aware of his physical appearance

•Prufrock assumes what other people say about his appearance–These assumptions fuel his indecisiveness


More Assumptions• Prufrock believes that all people are

the same.• Uninteresting, boring people live in

an uninteresting, boring world.• Therefore, why should he do

anything?


Who He Is and Who He Should Have Been

• “Should I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streetsAnd watched the smoke that rises from the pipesOf lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?...I should have been a pair of ragged clawsScuttling across the floors of silent seas.”


Who He Is and Who He Should Have Been

• Prufrock is the lonely men staring out of windows

• Why should he have been a crab?– A crab is insignificant– A crab is alienated– A crab is lonely

• Not even a full crab, rather a “pair of ragged claws”


Hypothetical Speculation• Would his interaction with other

people, especially a woman, be worth it?

• Prufrock believes the result of his interaction/conversation would be rejection and criticism.

• Is interaction worth rejection and criticism?


Hypothetical Speculation• “To have squeezed the universe into

a ball”– Another reference to Marvell’s “To His

Coy Mistress”• “Let us roll all our strength and all/

Our sweetness up into one ball.”– Prufrock wonders if it would be worth it

to do the same thing with a woman he is interested in.


Hypothetical Speculation• Lazarus

– Brother of Martha and Mary– Friend of Jesus– Jesus raised him from the dead


Hypothetical Speculation• Lazarus

– Leprous beggar– Dies and is taken into heaven– A rich man dies, goes to hell and

requests that Lazarus returns to earth to warn the rich man’s brothers about the horror of hell.

– His request is deniedMcNew/English IV AP

"Prufrock"

Hypothetical Speculation• To which Lazarus is Prufrock

comparing himself?– Probably both– Prufrock believes either Lazarus

would not be listened to.


Michelangelo• “In the room the women come and go

Talking of Michelangelo”– Reflection of his insecurity– Prufrock recognizes the predictability

of the conversation of women– If the topic of their discussion is

Michelangelo, how could Prufrock possibly interest them?


Hamlet• Even though he has characteristics of

Hamlet (indecisiveness), Prufrock does not consider himself to be a great man.

• Instead, Prufrock compares himself to the Fool (Yorick) and the attendant lord (Polonius)– “Politic, cautious, and meticulous;

Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;At times, indeed, almost ridiculous”•Prufrock mocks himself


Recapturing Youth• “I grow old…I grow old…

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare eat a peach?I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.”– A futile attempt to appear young and

“in-tune” with the timesMcNew/English IV AP

"Prufrock"

Mermaids• References the sirens of the Odyssey

– Dangerous– Prufrock does not believe the

mermaids will ever sing for him•Suggests eternal loneliness


Mermaids• Prufrock says he will dream of the

mermaids’ songs “Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”– Humanity breaks the romantic spell

of the mermaids– Drowning suggests loss of hope.– Therefore, the loss of hope occurs

because of humanity.McNew/English IV AP

"Prufrock"

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

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